


Eight-Legged Love

by CallipygianGoldfish



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Aquarist!Steve Rogers, Aquariums, First Meetings, Fish, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Meet-Cute, Parent Bucky Barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CallipygianGoldfish/pseuds/CallipygianGoldfish
Summary: Anyone knows that when your seven-year-old has a crush on an octopus, you obviously indulge her. Commanded by a new hyper-fixation, Bucky finds himself visiting the local aquarium each weekend, watching the fish go by and maybe watching that handsome aquarist’s ass a littletooclosely…
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers
Comments: 14
Kudos: 303





	Eight-Legged Love

**Author's Note:**

> Pure, shameless, self-indulgent fluff, I’m not going to lie <3 Still under lockdown, and still catching up on old WIPs :)

It all started because Annie wanted to find Nemo, just to make sure he got home safely.

Now, any normal parent would have just put on the film again and ignored the screaming seven-year old. Yet, as he gladly points out to anyone who listens, Bucky has absolutely no dignity nor restraint when it comes to his daughter, and so finds himself traipsing across the city with her on one weekend in June.

The aquarium’s not at all how he remembered it, and he’s as equally entranced as her when it comes to the fish. The tanks are bigger, nicer, and a hell of a lot cleaner. They spend an age in front of the biggest tank, watching the eels being fed, and sit down to watch a dive show. It’s lunch time before they know it, and Annie refuses to eat anything fish related due to all the information she’s avidly consumed about fish sustainability.

Nemo, however, turns out relatively dull in the scheme of things.

“I thought he’d be bigger.” Annie stands on tiptoes and squints into the tank at the anemones bobbing in the current. “What do they do all day?”

“Swim, I suppose,” Bucky replies, watching the clownfish weave in and out of the tentacles. “At least he got home safe, right? 

“Yeah.” Annie eyeballs the fish and seems to satisfy her urge to ‘find’ Nemo. 

Looking ahead, Bucky notices a tank of tiny blue fish, and a selection of other animals that look like they’ve been chosen from the dentist’s tank in the film. “Hey look Nut, they’ve got Dory too,” Bucky says, pointing out the large tank. 

“Reever Tangs,” Annie pronounces carefully while looking at the description, before pointing a smug look at Bucky. “You should know that. It’s on the sign.”

“Yep, I probably should,” Bucky admits, hiding a smile. “Wanna see what’s next?”

“Yeah!” She starts to run off again, red curls bouncing down her back, before Bucky sighs and grabs the back of her shirt. 

“Anastasia,” warns Bucky, pulling her back as she sighs dramatically. “Walking, Nut, walking.” She slows to a reluctant walk, and tugs Bucky onwards. They round the corner and run into a small group of people standing in front of a dark tank. Bucky glimpses a tentacle slowly unfurling itself in a top corner, and they step closer to peer into the shadowy rocks, Annie winding her way to the front of the group.

“What is it?” Annie tries to whisper to Bucky.

“I think it’s an octopus,” Bucky replies, and as they watch, a tiny man comes out a side-door with a stepladder under his arm, setting it up in front the tank. They step aside as he wrangles the steps into submission, and sets about opening a hatch in the wall above the tank. He’s just about tall enough to pull up the lids of the tank, and Bucky watches as the man dips a hand in the water.

“What are you doing?” Annie asks him solemnly, and as he turns around and looks down on them from the steps, Bucky’s struck by how genuinely handsome he is. 

“I,” the man says, in a surprisingly deep voice for his stature, “am playing with Red, our octopus. And then I guess she’ll have some lunch.”

Annie’s eyes grow round and she listens avidly as he continues.

“She’s a Giant Pacific Octopus, about two years old, and she’s very, very clever, so she needs entertainment.” 

“What’s that?” Annie asks in fascination.

“Well, today I’m just playing with her, but sometimes we’ll give her a ball, and she often has her lunch in jars. You know like you might have packed lunches? She’s got to undo her jar to get her dinner,” the man says, starting to peel off small suckers from his forearm. The sound reminds Bucky of the pop of bathmats, and he tries to avoid staring at the ornate tattoos curling up the man’s arm. Bucky looks down at Annie, who’s wearing a look of intense concentration. He knows that gaze, he’s learnt to be prepared for anything that comes next. He’s going to have to warn Natasha not to buy an octopus for her.

“This your first visit?” With one hand the man reaches down to grab a jar with a sardine in it, and the octopus fully unfurls itself from the corner and starts to climb as far as it can up the man’s arm.

“Oh yeah, in a long time,” Bucky says, glancing around as the crowd disperses and nobody else replies. “We’ll have to come back some time, I think we’ve spent pretty much all day here.” He tries to concentrate on the octopus and not on the sinewy bicep muscles that were wrestling with it, and wrenches his gaze back to the tentacles. For every two suckers that the man removed, another three stuck firmly on. 

“Ah well, if you fill in the form they gave you at reception, you can get twelve months admission for free you know.” He places the sardine and jar into the tank, and Bucky and Annie watch together as it is quickly pulled under by a tentacle. The man comes back down off the ladder, locking the enclosure as he goes, and starts to pack up his ladder as the crowd among them disperses.

“I’m Steve, by the way.” Steve says, nodding at the octopus who was now happily clutching the jar in the middle of its body. “And we feed her every day, so…” Steve trails off, and Annie butts in.

“When do you feed her?”

“One o’clock, every day. But not Sundays,” says Steve, looking amused at her enthusiasm. 

Annie turns back to Bucky with pleading eyes, and Bucky feels his stern resolve melt. “Damn it. Fine, I suppose we’d better make use of that yearly pass after all, yeah Nut?”

Bucky doesn’t think that Steve really wants them as regular visitors, but judging by Annie’s excitement, that’s what he is going to get.

*

Bucky set some ground rules as soon as Annie starts asking again about going back to the aquarium. Number one states that they were going no more than once a week, and only on Saturdays. He’s not sure his wallet can cope with the subway fares, despite the free entry. Rule number two was more important, and tried to prevent Annie from doing her magical disappearing act on Bucky. One day he’ll teach her not to disappear from right in front of him, but he suspects Natasha taught her that as a baby. 

“What’s she got today?” Anastasia asks Steve excitedly as he sets up the ladder, and Bucky finally catches up to her.

“Annie, I’ve told you, don’t run off like that! Jesus, I swear you give me a heart attack every morning…” Bucky tries to catch his breath, and Annie nods serenely at him before promptly turning back to Steve. Eyes rolling, Bucky apologizes to Steve, who just looks amused. 

“Sorry, she disappeared on me next to the lobsters. I swear, one day…” He trails off and sighs. “God, I really am out of shape.” 

“Papa! She’s got prawns in a ball!” Annie points at Steve’s bucket. “Does she like prawns?” she asks Steve. 

He nods. “She likes pretty much everything. The sharks will only eat squid, but this babe’s not too picky, as long as she gets a cuddle as well.” 

“Do you get to feed the sharks too?” Annie’s eyes seem to get even bigger.

“On certain days if I’m lucky.” Steve starts to tickle Red, who launches herself quickly across the tank to curl around his fingers. She quickly hoists herself up onto his arms, Steve peeling away tentacles as fast as they arrive.

“How long can she be out of the water for?”

“Quite a while, surprisingly. Some octopuses have even been seen climbing out of their tanks and stealing food!” Steve laughs and flicks some water down at her. Annie squeals and runs behind Bucky, who gets the brunt of the free shower. 

“Oi!” 

“Sorry,” Steve says, not sounding sorry at all. “It was Red, I swear.”

“That true, Red?” Bucky asks the glass for Annie’s benefit, the tentacles in the corner pulsating slightly in the current that runs across the tank. “What do you think, Annie, was it the octopus? Or was it Steve?”

“Steve!”

Bucky gasps dramatically and clasps a hand to his chest as Steve protests. “Haha, okay Nut, let’s give the man a break, hmm? We could go see the sharks if you want?”

“Oh yeah, talking of which, I think they’re next in line to get some food,” Steve adds. “Might catch you there later then.” He hoists the ladder up under his arm, heading back through the door, and Bucky has to drag his eyes away from the glimpse of skin that appears as his shirt rides up.

“Right then Annie, c’mon. Five minutes with Red and then sharks, what about it?”

Annie gives him a glare. “No. An hour.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows at her. “Ten more minutes.”

Annie pouts back at him, and it’s lucky that Bucky has built up a little resistance to her tantrums over the years, or else he’d be toast. “Red will still be here another day, kid.”

“Aw, fine.” 

*

Bucky assumed that after the first few times, Annie would get tired of watching Red get fed. But no, dragging Bucky to the aquarium on the weekends was now her favourite hobby, and she even let him use it as leverage against her if she wasn’t sleeping.

“You know, go on much longer and you’ll need a job here,” Steve jokes the next time they see each other. Red’s been fed and the crowd is disappearing, but Annie’s still watching the tank. 

“Does it pay well?” Bucky laughs at the grimace that appears on Steve’s face. “Uh, I’ll take that as a no, then.”

“It has its perks, I must say,” Steve admits, “which usually involves you finding fish scales and sand in places you didn’t know existed. But she’d like it, I think.”

“Yeah, we’ve already decided on a marine theme for her birthday. She’s decided she wants to be a biologist, and I definitely endorse anything that isn’t her demanding a pony,” Bucky says.

“Ah yes, the glamour…” Steve trails off and stares dramatically into the distance. “All the cleaning fish poo and cutting up squid guts. Such aspirational goals.”

“She already wants a goldfish, which is not going to be my responsibility, is it?” Bucky raises his voice slightly and aims the last part towards Annie, who shrugs and ignores him, too enraptured in Red. Steve just grins.

“At least goldfish don’t do this,” he says, pulling up his shirt sleeve to expose his shoulder. Bucky whistles in appreciation at the long line of sucker marks sneaking up his arm like a rail road track. 

“Wow, she’s pretty feisty then?” he says, almost twitching to reach out and run his fingers over what were essentially octopus love bites on Steve’s arm. He then remembers he is meant to be in polite company, and resists the urge.

“Oh yeah,” Steve agrees. “They say they have favourites, and well, Sam tried to play with her the other day and all he got out of it was a wet shirt. She took the food though,” he adds.

“That’s because she can taste you,” Annie says, pointing to all the suckers on Red’s tentacles. “You’re just a weird fish.”

“That she can, and I suppose I must be.” Steve huffs a laugh, amused by Annie’s strange take on life. “Today I gave her a fish in a block of ice, so she has to hold it until it melts. She probably thinks I’m quite a mean weird fish today, making her wait for her dinner.”

Bucky shrugs in a vague apology. “Everyone’s either a fish or a weird fish these days, I wouldn’t take it personally.” 

“I won’t. She’s very clever, your daughter,” Steve says, smiling fondly as Annie presses a hand against the glass where Red’s tentacles are touching the other side. “She’s lucky too. Not many parents would indulge her each weekend.”

“I don’t know man, between her and Natasha, I think I’m pretty much done for,” Bucky says with a chuckle. “Not that like, we’re together or anything. Me and Nat, that is. We’re not.”

Steve hums and nods. As they watch Red heat the ice block, Bucky looks at Annie and realises that he really wants Steve to have a little more clarification. They stand in silence for a minute as he mulls it over, before Bucky speaks again.

“My best friend’s always travelling, and I love her like family, so it just seemed a good fit. I’m Annie’s father, just not by DNA.” Bucky doesn’t say much more, because sometimes he honestly forgets Annie’s not genetically related to him. Natasha named him as the father just after she was born, a more than happy agreement between them both, and Bucky wouldn’t have it any other way. He can’t quite put his finger on why he wants Steve to know this, but maybe it was something to do with the vague hope that Steve was in any way interested in him. If he knew there wasn’t a wife or a girlfriend, maybe... Nah, it wasn’t worth thinking about.

“Oh yeah?” Steve says politely.

“Yeah, so Annie stays with me. She knows we both love her dearly, so she doesn’t mind. Plus, Nat always gets her stuff when she comes back to the US,” Bucky says with a grin, shaking his head at the many extravagant gifts she’d been given over the last few years. “Now Annie likes fish, I’m expecting a proper shark the next time we see her.”

“Whatever you do, don’t tell Anastasia you can keep octopi as pets,” Steve advises Bucky with a sly grin. “You’ll end up with either a sulking child or a tank that costs more than your house.”

“Speaking from experience?” Bucky lifts his eyebrows at him.

“God, no. No, one’s enough for me,” Steve says. “Red’s more than a handful. And I bet Annie is enough without an extra eight-legged cephalopod in the mix.”

“Oh yes,” Bucky agrees, and they share a conspiratorial grin before Annie tugs Bucky on again. “See ya Steve.”

“Bye Steve, bye Red, see you next week!”

*

There is only one time that Anastasia forgets completely, and Bucky thinks she has a good reason to, due to Natasha visiting for a long weekend. They spend the Saturday in the park, Anastasia cooing over the pigeons and Nat bitching to Bucky about her boss. Bucky tells Natasha about Annie’s little crush on a cephalopod, and she laughs, before asking him if he’s sure that it’s Anastasia who has the crush.

Of course it is. There’s no reason why Bucky would have one. Not a single reason, specifically not a certain biologist.

“… and it’s not like he’s a horrible person, he’s just so good with Annie, and he listens to her even when he’s got important biologist stuff to do, and oh god did I mention his face? I could stare at it all day, did I say that? I probably did.”

Natasha just rolls her eyes at him and cuffs him affectionately over the back of his head. “Idiot. Ever heard of talking? You know, to him? About feelings? It probably helps.”

“Not that easy,” Bucky says with a groan. “We hardly know each other, I just kinda stare at him and Anastasia asks him more questions than he knows what to do with.”

“But he answers them, right?” She gives him a knowing look and Bucky despairs at how well she can read him.

“Of course he does.” Bucky sighs again, wishing there was a brick wall he could bang his head against. Or at least a nearby tree. “He’s patient and perfect.”

“You have it bad, James. You have it bad.” Natasha pulls him into a sideways hug and Bucky spends the rest of the picnic trying resolutely not to moan about his crush. It’s getting a little embarrassing.

When they do finally show up the next week at the aquarium, the change hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“Hang on, have I got the day wrong?” Steve jokes, looking at his watch. “It is Monday right, not Saturday?”

“Sorry, Mom’s back in town.” Bucky explains to Steve as he hoists Anastasia up so she’s supported by his knees braced against the wall. She’s careful not to pull on his left arm, and for that, Bucky loves her a little bit more. “Can you see her?”

“Yep.” Annie almost presses her nose to the glass before thankfully remembering Bucky’s words about greasy fingers. “Sorry, Red. Papa made us late.”

“Hey!” Bucky protests weakly before realising it’s a losing battle. “Yeah, true. All that family bonding and shi- stuff, so annoying.”

“Good day out?” Steve asks, leaning the ladder against the wall.

“Yeah, thanks,” Bucky replies, and Annie squirms to be let down. “Went to the park. Saw some pigeons. Chased some pigeons.”

“Sounds fun.” Steve considers the pair of them as Bucky lets Annie down. “You two must be the aquarium’s most regular customers by now.”

“Do we get a prize?” Bucky asks. “I’m thinking a medal, a plaque, perhaps a trophy?”

Steve grins, drying his hands on a towel as he speaks. “Maybe a marching band?” 

“As long as we’re never in your way, we could probably compete for visitors of the century at this rate,” Bucky says. “Just let us know if you need us to lay off for a bit.”

“Never, it’s pretty much the highlight of my weekend.” Steve grins. “You’re always welcome to come and see Red.”

Bucky tries not to read too much into Steve’s words, a warmth spreading through his stomach. “It’s definitely the highlight of ours as well. I don’t think Annie would forgive me if there was ever a change of schedule.”

Anastasia eyeballs Steve in a way that she thinks is sneaky, and Bucky’s heart sinks. Whatever happens next can’t be good.

“So do you have a girlfriend?” And yep, there it was.

Thankfully, Steve laughs. “Nope, afraid not. Not really a girlfriend sort of guy. Why, do you?”

Anastasia gives Steve a look that reminds Bucky of Natasha when she’s finally reached the end of her tether. Sometimes it scares him how alike they are; the rest of the time he adores it. “No, obviously not yet. Mrs Grey says to wait until at least next grade.”

“Very wise.” Steve nods solemnly back at her, and Bucky feels his heart swell for a guy who doesn’t make fun of Anastasia’s seriousness or patronise her. He somehow feels that dating Steve wouldn’t be any sort of compromise between a relationship and Annie. Annie would always come first for Bucky, no doubt about it, even when she was a little shit.

Steve bites his lip and looks down at their feet. There’s a pause, and Bucky narrows his eyes at him.

“You uh, okay?” Bucky asks. Steve looks even more constipated, and Bucky watches a variety of facial muscle movements flicker across his face until Steve decides on a fairly neutral one, which seems to have some determination behind it.

“Yes. Thank you. Well, uh, actually I was wondering,” Steve says, twisting the towel he’s holding into knots. “If you’re free now, uh, would you like to get a drink? I mean, like coffee? It’s alright if you don’t or if you’re busy, whatever.” For the past few moments Steve had avoided Bucky’s eye while they were talking, but now he straightens up and seems to prepare for the worst. 

“Both of us? Or just me?” Bucky tries to contain his grin, ignoring the way his heart is jumping in his chest. He knows the whole single-father thing can be off-putting at times, but he has a feeling Steve wouldn’t be that kind of jerk.

“Anastasia. Not you, sorry, I’m stealing your child,” Steve says as he laughs and his shoulders visibly unknot. “Yeah, both of you, of course, but I’m afraid Red would have to stay here. You know how it is, octopuses don’t really like coffee.”

“How do you know they don’t?” Annie pipes up from behind Bucky’s legs. 

“I’m making an educated guess on the assumption that being out of the tank would mean imminent death,” Steve replies. “And plus, I think the café would have some kind of rule that says only humans can buy things there.”

Annie blinks. “Fair. I accept. But you won’t mind when he gets bad dreams then?” She frowns at Steve and gives him a good glare. “Because that’s what the other lady did. She said he’d brought the war back with him, then she left. For good.”

“Ah.” Bucky sometimes really begrudges having an astute small child with very good hearing. He’s never hidden anything from Annie, only made it child-friendly, and he knows she suspects more than he lets on. “Yeah, that wasn’t- honey, he really doesn’t need to know all our baggage now, does he?” He raises his eyebrows at her and she considers it.

“We don’t have any bags.”

Resisting a sigh, Bucky shakes his head fondly. “No, you’re right, we don’t.” Head raised to look at Steve, he casts a glance to see how he’s taking it. Steve seems unphased, only a little curious. “Two tours. Some unfortunate incidents, you know how it is.”

“Not personally, but I’ve a friend from pararescue, and boy do I hear some things from him.” Steve shakes his head and huffs to himself. “And hey, it doesn’t have to mean anything. Just coffee. Or more, if you wanted. I don’t do this often, you may be able to tell.”

“Well, in that case.” Bucky pauses for a second, checking silently with Annie who sidles up at him and bats her eyelashes in a way that he knows Natasha taught her just to let her get her own way. “We’d love that. Thank you.” He can’t help breaking into a grin, and Steve seems to let out a deep breath he’d been holding in.

“Great.” Steve beams back at him. “That sounds, great. I’ll um, text you? Not that I have your number or anything, that might be a problem, not that I’m asking for it, just saying, oh god, I’m going to stop talking now.” He hides his face in the wet towel and groans. “And now I smell like fish. Oh god.”

Annie giggles and tugs Bucky’s arm down to her, and he leans down so she can whisper in his ear. With a laugh, he straightens up. 

“Annie would like to know if you’ll help her choose her goldfish. We’re getting one next week in an attempt to cut down the numbers of trips here, the subway cost is getting astronomical.”

“I’d be delighted.” Steve smiles back. “Hey, uh here’s my card. Call me anytime.”

“I will do.” Bucky can’t stop staring at him as he takes the card from Steve’s hand, fingers brushing, and he feels the lump in his chest grow bigger. “What about this weekend?” he blurts out.

“Sunday? Coffee and fish time?” 

“Yes!” Annie pipes up from underneath Bucky’s arm and he laughs. 

“As the girl says, yes. That sounds good.” 

“Great,” Steve says, still smiling. 

“Great! See you, uh, then?” Bucky’s aware that both of them are still smiling like loons at each other, and yet he can’t draw away. Steve blushes, a light pink spreading over his cheeks, and Bucky resists the urge to step in closer, reminded of the large bucket of fish between them and an over-sugared child. With a wave goodbye at Steve, Annie drags him on, chattering happily about the rays that are skating over the surface of the nearest tank, and Bucky raises a hand as well. Heart in his throat, he tries to concentrate on Annie’s newest fishy discovery, but can’t help returning to the image of Steve standing by Red’s tank, staring after them with a soppy grin.

One thing’s for sure. For Bucky, Sunday can’t come fast enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Come say hi on tumblr if you fancy it, same username :)


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